For more than 20 years, West Deptford Democrats ran the township like a personal fiefdom. Today, their wasteful spending and excessive bond debt has ensnared everyone.

Along the way, former mayors David Shields and Anna Docimo had lucrative careers in county government. They feasted at the trough with their friends, and not one word was said by local Democrats.

Denice DiCarlo, now the lone township committee Democrat, and the party's 2014 committee candidates, Adam Reid and James Mehaffey, profess fiscal restraint and oversight as a new-found religion, but when Shields and Docimo were in charge, they spoke not one word on waste, spending abuse, and excess debt.

They were AWOL for too many years to be taken seriously as candidates and leaders, especially Mehaffey, the retired police chief. As a school board member, he raised taxes and authorized borrowing far beyond the levels of mere inflation.

Though Democrats and independent voters outnumber Republicans 4-1 in West Deptford, they have given control to Republicans locally.

Residents have seen through the charades of decades of Democrat control and given Republicans Chintall, Jeff Hansen, Jerry Maher and John Keuler (a 2014 re-election candidate) their support. In return, they have righted the sinking ship that was handed them by Democratic administrations.

Shame on Mehaffey for doubting the residents' intelligence as he feeds at the county trough. Now hypocrites like Mehaffey and Reid want to run West Deptford again. No thanks. Been there, done that — for three decades. We won't be fooled again!